hey guys, i desperatly need your help. I bought this computer the other day (a dell portable computer, inspiron 9400 with
ATI MobilityT Radeon® X1400 256MB HyperMemory - i don't know if thats relevent)

anyway, so i installed the sims 2 friday, and nearly at every loading point the system completly crashes and says - caused by ati3duag.dll, page fault in nonpaged area, and lots of numbers. so i re-installed the sims2 game and got the patches for it but it still happens.

any ideas - please help!

It is quite possible that that graphics device is not capable of playing the Sims.

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

ATI RadeonTM series (7000 or better)
Radeon 7000/VE series (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
7200, 7500
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
X300, X600, X800

http://thesims2.ea.com/help/detail.php?help_id=21

Also a general guide from Windows XP MVP Shell / User Jimmy S.

The ati3duag.dll file is part of the drivers for your ATI video card.
Hopefully the issue can be corrected by installing new ones....

Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
simple abc's to always keep in mind. a. Shut off download accelerators,
firewalls and antivirus programs when downloading or installing updates;
b. Check for game patches: www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a
c. Make sure you meet the game's minimum video and system requirements;
d. Check for known issues with your video card at the game's web site. :-)

1. Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you update DirectX
from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx

Please look over the ATI articles about their latest driver on the download page.
They list Installation Tips, Fixes, and Release Notes with important information.

2. Download the latest Catalyst driver for ATI Radeon or All in Wonder Card:

Win XP/2000: http://ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/radeonwdm-xp.html
Win 98/Me: http://ati.com/support/drivers/winme/radeonwdm-me.html

3. Save the .exe driver in My Documents\My Drivers\ATI

4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.

6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.

7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

8. If Windows prompts you to install the adapter, click "Cancel".

9. Double click the ATI driver we saved to My Documents\ My
Drivers\ATI folder in step 3 to install.it. If it complains about
Windows Logo Certification just click "Continue". This is normal.

10. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
my website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11

Your program might not support dual monitors, or "dual head" video cards
You can disable the extra video output in your display properties control
panel. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced.

Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
your Video card. These steps are listed at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk

Perhaps the old ATI drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
case, use these utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step 7:
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/ (works for all cards including nvidia)

The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
(Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:

BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegacorner.com/

There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them! :-)